Snap-hook



(Nomaden.)

. J. KENNEDY.

SNAP HOOK.

Patented Mar. 4

UNITED STATES .PATENT OEEICE.

JOHN KENNEDY, OF BIRMINGHAM, ASSIGNOR TO THE OSBORNE dr i CHEESMAN COMPANY, OF ANSONIA, CONNECTICUT.

SNAP-HOOK.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 422,801, dated March 4, 1890.

Application led November 7, 1889. Serial 110.329,473. (No model.)

To all whom t may concern:

Be it known that I, JOHN KENNEDY, a citizen of the United States, residing at Birmingham, in the county of New Haven and State of Connecticut, have invented new and useful Improvements in Snap-Hooks, of which thefollowing is a specification.

My invention relates to that class of snaphooks or couplings employed, among other purposes, upon Suspenders for connecting the suspender-ends with the adjustable clasp, ring, or loop upon the web of the Suspenders.

It is the purpose of my invention to provide a simple, inexpensive, and integral construction whereby the snap -hook may be made of a single piece of sheet metal having rearwardly-turned lips, forming stiffening for the movable portion of the jaw, and at the same time aording a double-jaw flange, by which the ring or loop carrying the suspender ends is guided and aided in releasing.

It is a further purpose of my invention to provide a snap-hook for Suspenders and other purposes formed of a single piece or plate of metal bent upon itself to embrace the loop connecting it with the suspender-ends, hav` ing one extremity curved to form a hook engaging a loop on the web of the Suspenders, and the other extremity engaging said hook with elastic pressure, its edges being turned over at right angles with the body of said extremity and overlying similar iianges on the body of the hook portion.

The invention consists in the novel features of construction and new combination of parts hereinafter fully set forth, and deiinitely pointed out in the claims following this specification.

To enable those skilled in the art to make and use my invention,I will now describe the same in detail, reference being made to the accompanying drawings, in which Figure 1 is a perspective view of my improved snap-hook. Fig. 1fL is a similar view of a portion of a suspender-web carrying a buckle to engage the snap-hook and dropped a little below the end of the suspender. Fig. 2 is a longitudinal sectionalview of the snaphook. Fig. 3 is a transverse section on the lino Fig. 2. Fig. iis a view of the blank spread out from which the snap-hook is made,

the lines of fold and bend being indicated by dots. Fig. 5 is a perspective view showing a modification, and Fig. 6 is a ,longitudinal sectional view of the same.

In the drawings, the reference-numeral 1 denotes a suspender buckle or clasp of any suitable or desired form, provided with a ring or loop 2 to engage the device attached to the suspender-ends. The suspender-ends 3 are connected in any ordinary manner with a ring orloop 4, of suitable size and shape, and this loop 4. is supported and connected with the ring2 of the buckle by means of a snaphook having the following construction.

The reference-numeral 5 denotes the blank from which the device is made, said blank beformed of sheet metal of any suitable kind, and consisting of a point or tang 6, a body port-ion 7 of decreasing width between the tang, and a laterally-expanding part 8, and a second body port-ion 9 of increasing width from the part 8 to its end, which is cut to form, preferably, two acute-angled extensions 10. This blank is bent upon the dotted lines 12 at right angles with its main portion,

the lateral extensions 13 upon the body portion 7 and the similar lateral extensions 10 on the part 9 being turned in the same direction. The blank being introduced within the loop 4., it is bent upon the line 14, and thereby closed around one of the long bars of theloop 4, which brings the two body portions 7 and 9 nearly into parallelism with the lateral eX- tensions 10, overlapping upon the similar extensions 13. The tang 6 is then curved or bent into the form shown to constitute a hook, beneath which the extremity of the body portion lies. The edges 15 of the lateral extensions 10 being of acute angles and the similar extensions 8 being formed with edges 16, having obtuse angles, it will be seen that where these extensions are brought into engagement, the parts 10 overlapping upon the parts 8, with the end of lt-he body portion 9 under and in elastic engagement with the hook formed by the tang 6, the edges 15 and 16 will substantially coincide, as shown in Fig. 2, thereby guiding the loop 2 to the point of engagement with and disengagement from the snap-hook.

In Figs. 5 and 6 I show a modified construc tion, wherein the body portions 7 and 9 of the snap-hook are superposed and the end 17 is closed around one of the long bars of the ring or loop by passing such end 17 through the loop and bending it around the long bar thereof. In this construction the body portions 7 and 9 are preferably composed of tWo plates of metal, of which the one bent into the hook may be thicker than the one Which extends 'as a spring-tongue under the hook.l

Although I have shown my invention for the purpose of illustration as part of a suspender cast-off device, it should be understood, nevertheless, that it is applicable Without material changey to a great variety of other analogous purposes, such as harness and other hooks, belt-hooks, chain-hooks, &c.

vHeretofore and prior to my invention snaphooks have been made with lateral overlapping edges or flanges bent at right angles to the parts on Which they are mounted. I do not therefore claim this feature, broadly; but my improvement consists in cutting the edges of these overlapping flanges at their ends at an acute angle with the hook to facilitate the release of the loop of the buckle by simplypressing it into the acute angle.

What I claim is- 1. A snap-hook for-Suspenders, consisting of a loop 4, for connecting With the suspenderends, and two members 7 and 9, carried by a i bar of the loop, one of said members being turned into a hook 6 and provided With side flanges 13, and the other member being inherently elastic, extending into the hook beneath the extremity thereof and provided with side flanges 10, substantially as described.

2. A snap-hook for engaging the ring or loop of a suspender-buckle, consisting of two members 7 and 9, provided, respectively, with side flanges 13 and 10, having oblique end edges 16 and 15, lying in substantially the same plane Within the hook, for guiding the buckle ring or loop to the point of engagement With and disengagement from the hook, substantially as described.

3. In a suspender or other device, a blank for snap-hooks, consisting of a metallic plate having two extremities provided with lateral extensions and one thereof having a tang forming the hook, the end edges of said eX- tensions forming, respectively, acute and obfuse angles with the edges of the parts on which they are formed, substantially as described.

In testimony Whereof I have aliixed my signature in presence of two Witnesses.

JOHN KENNEDY. Witnesses:

E. C. DREW, A. T. TERRELL. 

